Can opener



Oct. 6, 1925- 1,556,162

n B. RocKLlN v CAN OPENER Filed Feb, 21. 1925 Pafntea oeps, 12125.

'UNITED STATES BENJAMIN ROCKLIN, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CAN OPENER.

Application :tiled February 21, 1925. Serial No. 10,727.

To all whom t man! concern.'

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN RooKLrN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful `improvements in Can Openers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the appended drawings, forming a part hereof. These improvements relate to can openers of the kind adapted to cut through the side wall of a can near a anged annular edge thereof. The chief objects are to provide a simple, highly efficient and easily operable device for the specified purpose, and one having such advantages as will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan of my improved can opener in its operative relation to a can fragmentarily shown; Fig. 2 shows the tool in side view and the can in section; and Fig. 3 shows the tool in medial section as on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

The improved structure comprises a body member 10 having an extension 11 which may either constitute a handle or means for securing the device to a relatively fixed object, for instance a table, as by passing screws through the holes 12.

On the under surface of and at the outer end portion of the body 10 is mounted a toothed feed roller 13, as upon the lower end of a cylindrical shaft 14 extending rotatably through a hole in the member 10 and integral with the post 15 vcarrying' the crossbar 16 for turning the feedroller by hand.

vThe body- 10 is provided with a longitudinall -extending' slot 17 in which is mounte for forward andi back movement a shaft 18 having a reduced and threaded portion 19 on which-is rigidly. secured a disc 20, as by threading the disc upon the part 19 and then peening the end of the part 19 to make a strong and substantially' per- Y manent v connection. The shaft 18 carries rotatably the cutter 21 between .the head 22 and the under surface of the body 10, and

A the arrangement is such that the unitary cutter member comprising the dise 20, shaft 18 and cutter 21 may move forward and back toward and away from the work through its mounting in the vslot 17.l

Means for moving the cutter member forward are shown as 'a handle member 24 -pivoted at 25 uponthe body member v10,

and the forward portions of the lever 24 are provided with a cam surface 26 adapted `to engage the roller 20, the arrangement being such that when the handle 211 is moved toward the handle 11, as by a grasp of the hand, the cutter member as a whole is forced forward, whereby the sharp edge of the wheel cutter is forced into and severs the sheet metal of the can adjacent to the upstanding flange thereof, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The flange of the can is tightly clamped between the feed roller and the annular cylindrical surface 27 of the cutter,

and the sharp edge 28 of the cutter is forced into close and overlapped relation with the feed roller 13. While holding the cutter ythe end portion of; a handle rrember, with means for rotating ,the feed roller by. hand, and having a disc cutter pivotally mounted on the end portionof another handle'me-mber pivoted to the first-mentioned handle member; andl various other suggestions have been made for bringing a feed roller and a disc cutter into operative association withv each other for cutting of the'top portion of the can adjacent to the upstanding flange thereof. I am not aware, however, that it has heretofore been suggested to provide in a can opener of the character described a unitary cutter member bodily movable forward into the work on the member having the feed roller, with lever means for forcing this unitary cutter member forward, or that the specific construction illustrated herein has heretofore been known.

The present construction and arrangement are peculiarly advantageous in provlding a direct thrust of the cutter into the work and a flrm clamp upon the flange of the can in a direct line between the axis of the cutter and the axis of the feed roller, an arra ement which makes for an unusually satisfactory action whether the flange be relatively thick or relatively thin; and, furthermore, the arran ement of the `feed roller and 'cutter' so that t t cutter always moves in a xed longitudinal line, as distinguished insures the proper relation thereto of the feed roller and cutter for high eciency, and thus the device provides an unusually high degree of certainty of action with notable ease of application and operation.

The present improvements are susceptible of variation, change and `modlfication within the spirit of the invention from what is specically illustrated and described herein, and I contemplate all such departures as are included in the scope of the appended claim. I claim: In a can opener of the character described, the combination of a body member comprising a real-wardly-extendingv handle and having a feed roller mounted on one side of a forwardly extending part of the body with means for rotating sald feed roller by hand,

of the body member as is the feed roller, a

disc mounted on said shaft on the side of ,the body member opposite to thaton which said cutter is positioned, and a handle member complementary to said first-mentioned handle pivoted to the body member and having a cam surface at its forward end adapted to engage said disc and move the cutter member forward, the arrangement being such that when the feed roller is placed on one side of the upstanding flange o f a can the cutter may be forced into the opposite side of such flange by drawing the two handles toward each other and through the rotation of the feed roller the device as a whole may be caused to travel about the flanged margin of the can to sever the same.

BENJAMIN ROCKLIN. 

